George Ritchie Mackay

and Mrs Geo Ritchie Mackay

[Mrs Geo Ritchie Mackay was listed as Miss Geo Ritchie Mackay in some directories]

George Ritchie Mackay and his Studios

©  With acknowledgement to Alex Gorrie

George Ritchie MacKay was a photographer, portrait and miniature painter. He coloured his own photographs to be sent to exhibitions.

 [Des:AG]

Studio

105 South Bridge

GR MacKay initially had studios at 105 South Bridge Street.

Studio

25 North Bridge

Later, he had a studio on the top floor of 25 North Bridge Street, an address that later became Patrick Thomson's Dept store.  This photograph of George R Mackay (the taller gentleman) and another man (who?) was taken on the roof of his North Bridge studio.

©  With acknowledgement to Alex Gorrie

Alex Gorrie believes that the photograph above was probably taken by G R Mackay's assistant, Alan Harper.

Was this the same man as Alan Harper, son of John Campbell Harper?  - Peter Stubbs

G R MacKay's studio was directly opposite The Scotsman newspaper office.

G R Mackay may have done some work for that paper.

He also took flights in an open plane during the 1914-18 War to take  aerial photographs.    [Des:AG]

Studio

70 Leith Walk

GR MacKay later opened a studio at 70 Leith Walk.  He named it  'Crown Studio'. 

Most of his photos give the name GR MacKay's and one or both of his his studio addresses.  However, I have two postcard portraits that hame no photographer but have a 'Crown Studio' blind stamp.  I have assumed that these are from GR MacKay's Leith Walk studio.

Photographs

George Ritchie Mackay took photos for the theatre in his large studio at South Bridge.

He also produced portraits in several formats:

-  postcards

-  cabinet prints

-  small photos mounted on carte-de-visite size mounts.

Here is one of his larger photographs.

  ©

Postcard Portraits

Mackay Family

Message from Alex Gorrie

Thank you to Alex Gorrie, grandson of George Ritchie Mackay, who wrote:

My Grandfather

"G R Mackay died in 1919, aged 48, leaving a daughter* (b.1900) and a son** (also named George Ritchie Mackay). "

*  She was named Gwendoline Mackay.  She married into the Gorrie family and became the mother of Alex Gorrie.

** He was also named George Ritchie Mackay.  He went on to work for Valentine of Dundee, photographers.  He became the father of Michael Ritchie Mackay

- Peter Stubbs

"G R Mackay's wife continued to run the business for a couple of years after his death, before selling it to Campbell Harper."

I have found no record in the trade directories of Campbell Harper being located at 25 North Bridge or 70 Leith Walk.  So presumably they Campbell Harper ran  these studios under the Mackay name:

The studio at 70 Leith Walk was also listed in some directories under the name of Miss Geo R Mackay and in others under the name of Mrs Geo R Mackay.  Presumably both refer to the widow.  By 1924, 70 Leith Walk had become John C Bambrick's studio.

- Peter Stubbs

Alex Gorrie, Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland:  August 24, 2004

Mackay Family

Message from Michael Mackay

Thank you to Michael Ritchie MacKay, now living in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, for sending the comments below.

Michael is the son of son of George Ritchie Mackay (Jun) and the grandson of George Ritchie Mackay (Sen) .

Michael wrote:

Grandparents

"My grandfather George Ritchie Mackay (Sen) died at an early age leaving my grandmother and two siblings, being my father, George Ritchie Mackay (Jun), and a daughter named Gwendoline (Gwennie) Mackay who later married into a family called Gorrie.

My grandmother re-married and became a Fairhurst but her husband also died, leaving my father to look after her in later years.  She was placed into a home in Meigle and lived there 'till she died aged 98."

Edinburgh, Dundee, Australia

"I was born in Edinburgh in 1945 and lived in Portobello with my father and mother Elizabeth Christie Mackay (known as Lillian). 

My father was born in Edinburgh and worked for his father.  They owned Mackay Studios in Leith Walk and Princes Street."

The trade directories show the studio being in North Bridge, not Princes Street.

  - Peter Stubbs

"We moved to Dundee when I was very young, probably in 1946.  In Dundee, my father worked for Valentines & Sons Ltd as a professional photographer, taking postcards etc.

I stayed in Dundee 'till 1963 then emigrated to Australia. My father died in 1969, so I am the remaining direct descendent of that family."

Michael Ritchie MacKay, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:  May 16+21, 2007

George Ritchie Mackay

and James M Mackay

Question

Was James M Mackay related to George R Mackay?

Answer

Thank you to Alan Mackay for the following message:

"I have done a quick search and reckon that it is unlikely they James M Mackay and George R Mackay were related to each other.  (They certainly weren't father and son.) 

George Ritchie Mackay was born in Edinburgh on 10 November 1870.  His parents were John Mackay and Euphemia Meiklejohn Ritchie."

[Alan Mackay is great grandson of Hugh Mackay who owned the Palace Hotel on Princes Street/ corner of Castle Street and was also a President of the Clan Mackay Society.]

Alan MacKay asks:

 "Am I related to GR MacKay?"

Alan Mackay (above) did not believe that he is related to the Mackay photographers.  However, he subsequently wrote in Feb 2005:'

"I've just looked back at some of my family history.  When my G.Grandfather and his wife had their first child (Nov 1901) their address is 70 Leith Walk. This is also their address in the 1901 Census"

The address of George Ritchie Mackay's studio from 1916 was 70 Leith Walk.

James M Mackay

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